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MOTD: Manchester City 0-1 Manchester United

By on March 20, 2016

It was mid-July and Manchester United were on their preseason tour in the United States.  United faced Barcelona and, per the usual pre-season routine, ran out at halftime with entirely fresh faces, all the youngsters hoping to make a breakthrough in the coming season mixed in with a few familiar faces.

Of his second-half lineup, Van Gaal said he was most impressed by Adnan Januzaj.  Yet Januzaj did not manage to build upon his early promise in Van Gaal’s mind and United were in desperate need of an injection of youth and pace heading into the long, darkest stretches of winter.

Step up Marcus Rashford, arising from nowhere to save United’s Europa League campaign and then scoring a brace against Arsenal in the league.  Or, more accurately, arising from the Manchester suburb Wythenshawe, just a thirteen minute drive from Old Trafford, where an uncanny number of starlets have grown up over the years.

Rashford, however, has already broken Januzaj’s scoring tally in the Belgian’s break-out season with a crucial goal in Manchester United’s 1-0 derby win over Manchester City.  The goal takes him level with Federico Macheda’s tally at United, not a month after his debut, with Rashford appearing set to blow pass the Italian in short order.

Today he became the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Manchester Derby as his first-half strike gave United the vital win and offered a tantalizing glimpse of the future.

“I think it is more than three points. The position we are in the league meant it was a must-win,” declared Michael Carrick, per United’s official website. “We had to get the three points before the international break to give us a boost and something to go at when we come back.”

The result pulls United within a point of the top four and forces City to alter their focus from the title race to a scrap for a Champions League position.  With just one win in their last five matches in all competitions, a one-point gap above their cross-town rivals and West Ham United appears ever so slim.

In a season that they opened with five wins, the facade has been unceremoniously stripped away over the months.

City had twenty-six shots to United’s five, but Rashford’s fifteenth-minute effort made all the difference.  His exuberance and pace terrorized Martin Demichelis, who is almost the youngster’s senior. With a shimmy of the hips he lured Demichelis into a mindless, lunging challenge on the edge of the area and with quick feet, left the Argentine centerback where the ball used to be.

Before Demichelis pick himself back off the turf, Rashford had burst into the box and tucked a cool finish past Joe Hart.

“He is a real striker and that’s why I played him in that position because he can make goals and he is also an attacking point and runs the channels,” said Louis van Gaal, per United’s official website. “I like him very much, but still he is 18 or 19 years old so we have to wait and see how consistent he is.”

Rashford drew another rash challenge from Demichelis down the left side of the box on the brink of the half and City were ever so lucky to evade United’s calls for a penalty.

Aguero hit the post with a glancing header on the other side of the break, but United held onto the lead and savored every moment of the occasion; wins that used to be the norm for Van Gaal’s men, but are now ever so rare and cherished.

Homepage photo credit: Alfonso Jimenez from London, United Kingdom (City of Manchester Stadium) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.